Seoul has returned the surviving and dead North Korean sailors of a cargo ship that sank on Friday off the south coast of South Korea.
 
The government returned the three sailors and two bodies to North Korea at 2 p.m. Sunday through the truce village of Panmunjeom.

The Mongolia-registered cargo ship sank off the coast of the South Korean city of Yeosu early Friday morning. The entire 16-man crew was North Korean.

Pyongyang sent a formal request around 1 a.m. on Saturday through its Red Cross asking for the return of the survivors and the bodies.